Riverkeeper threatens suit on Rayonier

BRUNSWICK - Environmentalists have filed a 60-day notice that they intend to sue Rayonier Inc., saying the company pollutes the Altamaha River with foul-smelling wastewater from its Jesup pulp mill.

Attorneys for the Altamaha Riverkeeper said Tuesday that Rayonier has done little over the past 10 years to reduce the stinking, coffee-colored water it discharges. The Riverkeeper group says the company agreed in 2002 to clean them up.

Company spokesman Mike Bell says Rayonier has not been found in violation of either federal or state clean water standards. Bell says that due to a March agreement with the state Environmental Protection Division, the company "committed to spend $65 million to $75 million over the next seven years to improve the quality of the discharge."